Stealth Meters

“Stealth” Power Meters: Analog Meters with Hidden Transmitters

A client had recently shared their experiences recently regarding a Stealth Power Meter that had been installed on their home.

The following has been anonymized:

We had opted out of the smart meter program about a year ago. The Electric Company had come out and swapped in an analog meter with dials. For all the visual aspects of the meter, the analog meter did not look ‘smart’. Over the year we were seeming to continue to have some health effects from it and asked the Electric Company to replace it with another analog meter. After they swapped out the analog meter for another newer analog meter, our symptoms actually became much worse. Our high blood pressure climbed further, our teeth began uncontrollable chattering and we were unable to go to sleep. We had called the Electric Company again and told them we could not live with this new meter and asked them to change it back. They refused, saying that we did not have a smart meter, saying that they could tell because they could not see the power usage of our house. We called them again and talked with their supervisor. Again, they reiterated that we don’t have a smart meter. They denied that their analog meter was transmitting anything, insinuating that we were crazy. I told them it was a medical issue and they still refused to change the meter saying it could not be their meter. A few days later we left the house, because it had become unlivable.

A couple days later an Electric Company worker showed up. We showed him the meter and he said you do not have a smart meter, so I will not swap it but I will put in a ticket for a meter reader to check it. He left and within an hour a meter reader came.

Smart Meter

The meter reader noticed that our analog meter was a Landis & Gyr MX with a Watt Only Meter decal. This is the Manufacturer and Model name of a PLC Smart Meter. Under the decal it actually says Smart Meter. The decal covered it up but by looking down between the glass cover and the body of the meter you can read the older label.

It turns out that the Landis & Gyr MX was an older iteration for the Smart Meter program but were not ultimately used in the final rollout of Smart Meters. These meters were to be sent in for servicing to have their transmitter modified/disabled and then they were to be reused as Opt-out meters. The people in the servicing department were supposed to disconnect the PLC part to disable the transmitter, to make these function properly as non-smart Opt-Out meters. Apparently the service department did not disable the PLC correctly so it was still functioning and transmitting but not at a frequency that the Electric Company was listening for. The Electric Company headquarters did not know of this because they could not read the transmission, but it took a meter reader with on-the-ground knowledge of this issue to identify the problem.

There is a lot of confusion out there regarding the Analog/Digital Smart Meters. It is not so simple to identify these things visually anymore as there are Analog Meters with old transmitters not set for the current Smart Meter frequencies and there are also new Digital Meters that do not have any Smart Meter transmitter. So it is possible to have Analog Meters that can be hidden Smart Meters and Digital Meters can be non-Smart Meters.

The list below shows several manufacturers and the models of their analog Smart Meters. Please be aware that this list is not comprehensive:

Manufacturer

Model

ABB

AB1

D5S

Elster

AB1R

General Electric

I-70-S

Landis + Gyr

MS

MX

Schlumberger

J5S

Siemens

MS

MX

For additional information regarding Stealth Power Meters: Analog Meters with Hidden Transmitters, look to the following website.

5 Responses to “Stealth Meters”

Unfortunately we are not aware of a trustworthy database with this information.
Every utility uses different meters, and even with one utility they may use different meters for gas/electric/water, and they may even use different meters within the same utility company from month to month. So we cannot point you toward real analog meters. Sadly, it’s something you’d have to take up with your utility and they may not really know the answer or they may give the wrong answer when you ask.
-HBS

It is possible that the new “analog” meter still produces RF bursts, and it may create even more high-voltage transients (“dirty electricity” or “electrical noise”) than your previous “smart” meter. Fortunately both factors can be mitigated. Good luck.